5 things to be considered to provide effective urgent air cargo charters

During the online event “Mastering Effective Urgent Air Cargo Charters” held by AVEM AERO, experts with over 10 years of experience in the air cargo charter industry shared useful insights, that will contribute to providing better services for clients. 

Digitalization

“30 to 40% of the market capacity is now digitized through cargo booking platforms. When we look at charter, it hasn’t,” stated Simon Watson, Co-founder of CharterSync, during his speech on the importance of digitalization in the field of urgent air cargo charters.

According to him, this market is not developing as fast as it could be.

“Cargo charters are so unique. The way we see it is that it’s heavily driven by relationships. It’s a high value, low volume transaction, unlike air cargo,” he pointed out. — “However, the ways in which everyone works within the market really hasn’t changed much since the advent of e-mail.”

Simon also gave a note about the importance of the correct application of technology. In his words, it aims to remove the key problems and pain points that the market of urgent air cargo charters faces and add value to all the participants within the market. 

In the speech on email security, the speaker touched on an interesting topic and gave the audience an opportunity to consider alternative options. 

“The pandemic was a really great insight into how easily emails could be intercepted. Emails are not a secure or safe form of communication, especially when we’re talking about such high-value low-volume types of transactions like charters. I think we saw its usefulness in times. And again when talking about airlines during the pandemic, hackers were mirroring their email systems, sending out quotes on behalf of airlines, and intercepting emails. However, technology through multi-factor authentication increased security. So it’s a really strong benefit,” Simon pointed out. 

When one of the audience members asked how AI systems could be used, the speaker answered that they may be useful for predictive analytics, or better forecasting of routes, cargo, and the impact of market forces on near and short-term planning.

Communication

Communication involves control over all processes. Nicolas Janssen, an operational director at Zeus.aero, noted how important it is to communicate to fully control everything and operate effectively: 

“We keep in contact with the carrier so that everybody has an all-in package, so they don’t have to worry. Everything is taken care of: navigation fees, handling fees, our fees — everything.”

Liliia Skidanova, Sales Manager at AVEM AERO, spoke about the challenges in urgent air cargo charters. She noted how important it is to build the right communications and offered her own version of how to achieve it: 

“We designate a main person — the contact person who is responsible for the flight. This is our OCC manager on shift. This person coordinates all actions with crew, handlings and, of course, informs the client directly, so no group misunderstandings.”

Daniil Vasylkov, Sales Manager at AVEM AERO, pointed out how the quality of the charter can be improved by communication — and gave a specific example:  

“Sometimes clients make a mistake by mixing up cargo arrival time at the airport with time when cargo will be physically ready for loading to the aircraft. You may ask me why this timing is so important and we will again be back on this stage due to crew duty time limitation. In 30% and more of our flights, unfortunately, we faced crew duty time limitations when cargo was delayed. The root of this problem was that we didn’t get enough clear information about cargo delivery.”

Daniil summed up that communication and prompt notification can minimize risk during charters, and reducing these issues makes clients happier.

Choosing the best aircraft

During the online event, Caroline Werf, CEO at Air Charter Service Germany, gave advice on what is important to consider when choosing the best aircraft:

“To understand our client’s key requirements, we need to look at schedule price capacity. The schedule always depends on the cargo origin, destination, delivery deadlines, and cargo readiness. Are there any permits that need to be obtained? We’re then rating the priorities of our clients. And according to that source, the best available aircraft. I usually tend to give all my customers three different options depending on the quickest one. Then it’s picked according to the needs. John Ruskin once said that it’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little, which some in this market definitely can take to heart,” Caroline pointed out. 

Daniil Vasylkov, Sales Manager at AVEM AERO, noted what to check first while choosing a cargo charter:

“One of the first things you would need to consider when looking for a cargo charter is if the cargo will fit through the aircraft door. At this stage, you need to look at your cargo size, cargo dimensions, and parameters, and then at the cargo door of the aircraft. After that, you need to compare all the numbers. We have also learned that it’s very important to double-check cargo dimensions, especially when we are dealing with non-standard pallets,” Daniil Vasylkov pointed out. 

During his speech, Nicolas Janssen, Operational Director at ZEUS.aero, stated that choosing an airport needs to be well-considered. According to him, it’s not only the closest airport that might be the best solution, especially when flying to big hubs.

“It can take a long time to get cargo from the plane to the truck. So here we tend to make sure that the cargo reaches the truck if it’s a big load within 30 minutes. If it’s a small like 1 pallet, even within 5 minutes to get the cargo quickly to the end-user or the factory,” Nicolas Janssen shared. 

Nikolay Kurbanov, Managing director of AVEM AERO, talked about choosing alternative airports and why it is important to be considered:

“When we have arranged everything and coordinated the schedule we agree with the client some alternate airports. We are always proactive in choosing the best alternate airports for the client. When we have these options, we know how the crew will react when having some unexpected challenges. As soon as it happens, we send all requests to the alternate airports to make it smoother,” Nikolay Kurbanov stated. 

Planning and Coordination

During the online event, speakers shared their opinions about the importance of both coordination and planning for effective urgent air cargo charters. 

Nikolay Kurbanov, the managing director of AVEM AERO, pointed out that coordination is needed among all parties in the processes. It’s a fundamental part of all operations, which, according to him, begins with the informer of the crew. “At AVEM AERO we have it in the algorithm first because the crew is the heart of the operation and the most important in the charter.”

“As soon as we get confirmation for the flight, we have to make a lot of coordination between different departments within the airline (ramp and cargo handling, slots, refueling). We need to coordinate with the client the estimated time of the arrival of cargo, and which track will be used when the cargo will be collected from the facility. A lot of things we should know to make the right schedule,” Nikolay stated. 

Daniil Vasylkov, Sales Manager at AVEM AERO, shared some crucial insights into planning flights: “Non-stop flights should be our priority because if you plan a flight without a fuel stop, you minimize the risk. We have two stages that are the most risky in aviation: landing and departure because statistics show that these stages are the most critical in aviation. Also if you plan an additional fuel stop you will face human risk factors because all slots, all handlings, fuel, and all airport services are coordinated by humans and as humans, we can make mistakes.”

Nikolay Kurbanov also gave his thoughts about planning urgent air cargo charters: “We have a saying in our company if the charter isn’t going to plan, then everything is going to plan. It means you always should have a Plan B.”

During the online event, the speakers gave their advice on organizing effective urgent air cargo charters and shared experiences, demonstrating examples of successful cases and both common and uncommon mistakes. The meeting facilitated networking and contributed to the further development of the industry.